I did a couple of small things today I thought might help you with some quick cleaning ideas. I see so many people with these plastic scrapey things always scraping away at counters and it never really dawned on me that I have never really had to use one before and didn’t know why until today.
One of the main rules of professional cleaners is to let your cleaning products do the work for you. With out realizing it my mom taught me this many years ago when I started doing dishes. I always rinse my dishes then place as many as I can in the hot soapy water in the sink. Before I start my dishes I take my dishrag that is super wet and soppy and run it quickly over all the counter tops and stove. Not really wiping it just getting water a nice film of soapy water on it.
I then wash my dishes. When done I wring out my dish rag well and re-wipe the counters. Every bit of pancake batter, syrup, honey or what every wipes right up. This works every time and I never have to scrape. Now I don’t do this every time I do dishes. If we only have sandwiches I know there is probably not much sticky on the counter so wash as normal.
Years later this worked for me even better because it forced me to put all the dishes in the sink and get my counters cleared. When I had unexpected customers or company even though the dishes weren’t done the counters all looked cleared and nice.
The other thing I had to do today was clean my trash can. I took it out side, filled it full with soapy water and a little Clorox. I stuck the lid to it into the water and a broom that needed cleaned, let them soak for a couple of hours. Went out later and all I had to do was rinse them. I didn’t even need a rag or anything. All that nasty sticky stuff that gets in the bottom of the trash can just dissolved away.
When you can let things soak.
Jill
You can get testing strips from amazon much cheaper than anywhere else. As for homeschooling I reccomend reading a book calls A Thomas Jefferson Education, by Oliver DeMille
Hello, I saw your question about homeschooling come through my email today, and I thought I’d mention two curricula that might fit the bill:
-Christian Light Education (similar to PACE)
-Rod & Staff(workbooks in early grades, textbooks books and workbooks in higher grades)
They are both Mennonite, but in the lower grades especially the theme is generic Christian(without doctrine) with some pictures of Mennonite families, mostly gentle farm living, very nice for children.
The quality is excellent(check around the web for reviews) and the prices are very low. I get my Rod & Staff off ebay for about half price. The books are not printed in color - more about learning than entertainment.
We have use both curricula since my son was in Preschool. He is in fifth grade now and testing out past his grade, so I can say that these have really worked for us.
Much like PACE, there is little if any teacher’s prep for both curricula…it’s all laid out and very easy to follow.
Rod & Staff has a complete curriculum through 8th grade only, so we’ll be switching to CLE for middle school and up.
We are working around some of the doctrine in these higher grades…so far it’s been minimal this year, and we just skip it, or discuss it(the differences). We’ve also substituted or added to reading.
Rod & Staff has no formal program, just books. CLE has an option for enrollment. CLE has chosen not to pursue accreditation for religious reasons. My son will be taking a SAT, and an entrance exam for the local community college when the time comes. Virginia is very flexible this way. After two years of good grades, a transfer to a four year college is a cinch.
Rod & Staff does not have a website, so i use this seller: http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT
CLE has a site. http://www.clp.org/
Christian Liberty Education is similar to Road & Staff in that they provide everything you need inexpensively. They are Reformed, a good amount of doctrine. We buy their nature readers which are excellent, and some of the vintage elementary history reprints(no doctrine).
HTF…I hope this isn’t too long!
Oops, meant to say HTH! LOL…mommy duty calls - brain somewhere else.
If you have stuck on food that even soaking doesn’t let loose, I use a plastic bread clip.. these are even great to use on your frying pans or cooking pots…
LOL Just reread my tip and it should have read “a plastic bread bag clip” not “plastic bread” clip.
Hi Jill,
I am also responding to your homeschooling post. I love a company called Timberdoodle - http://www.timberdoodle.com. They do not sell one specific curriculum, but they do have their own core curriculum series. I have homeschooled for 14 years now and they have some great stuff.
I have also used Rod & Staff, which is excellent for younger children. And Alpha Omega, which I believe does the Switched On Schoolhouse has a good curriculum. I used the books (similar to the PACES) with a couple of my kids for a few years.
When you go to the convention, folks there are usually incredibly helpful. Ours is next weekend and it always gives me a boost right when I need it the most - THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR!
Good luck with everything.
did i not read that you are on medicare? if so, get your supplies at walmart, etc. after your little one is here you probably will not need to have testing. so there is no point in getting involved with a mailorder company.
God’sbest2uall,
lucy
jill, i soak my dishes adn silverware as well… and the pots too!… and if i do cook something that gets stuck to the bottom of the pot, i normally scrape as much out as possible and wipe clean with a napkin and then i take a bit of dish detergent and add some water to the pot and “cook” this… just for a few minutes… and when it cools a bit, then i proceed to wash the pot as normal… its easier than scrubbing and scrubbing…
and homeschooling? i used books i got at the library… i would have loved to use a curriculum but it was easier to get htings at the library and other books i bought from a homeschool guide that my friend used to get… of course, my kids are 8 yrs apart … and we let them go to regular school for their elementary years and when they reached the middle school grades, we homeschooled them…
i did look at some of the programs and to be quite honest, i think the one that stuck out the most that i liked was the one from calvert (cant remember the name, sorry)…
rose
Jill, I appreciate your cleaning tips as much as your frugal tips. Thank You I’m praying for Tawra and the baby.
Regards, Peg
About the homeschooling thing - I like A Beka (www.abeka.org) for our kids. It looks like a whole lot when you first get into it, I just have the kids do as much as I think they need to do (lots of repetition, called spiral learning). Basically A Beka is “say this to the child, hand the child this worksheet, etc.” They really lay out the teaching for you. Not much teacher pre-planning needed. Landmark is a good curriculum too - it’s pretty much read this page and do the worksheet. Test on Friday. (http://www.landmarkbaptistchurch.org/modules/lfbc/htmls/) It’s also less expensive than A Beka. Also, with homeschooling, what works for one person may or may not work for you. Call companies you are interested in to get samples of their curricula, search their websites, get catalogs, etc. Hope this helps!
I am not a homeschooler, but whether homeschooling or a co-op, or small church based school - do make sure the children are learning how to think, write, etc. - and not just getting really good at filling out worksheets and memorizing enough facts to pass the test. Of course, the comments that each family has their own style, and each child has his/her own way of best learning, is essential to remember also.
My mother used to boil a stick of rhubarb in the pan if anything got stuck and wow It worked a tread.
Pat, I am going have Tawra try the rhubarb trick. It is a family joke that no one can burn a pan as bad and hard as what Tawra can so we will try this one.
She has been through so many sets of pans in her short married life that we have lost count. I think the best one was the day she burnt the pan so bad that it literally welded (sp) to the burner and we couldn’t get it separated.
I even wrote a cookbook (dining on a dime) : ) : ) to help her and my daughter in law learn to cook but in some areas I seem to have failed one being on how not to burn a pan every time you cook. Maybe that was where I went wrong I should have had a chapter on that. HA!HA!
Tawra just got a new sign to hang above her stove which says “I kiss better then I cook”. Michael is amening that and the rest of the family is whole hardily agreeing.
I must give credit where it is due though both Tawra and my daughter in law have improved greatly over the years in the area of cooking the same way so many of us have done. Practice really does make perfect.
Jill
This reminds me of 30+ years ago when my kids were little. I would take their dirty high chairs and put them in the shower, spray them down with household cleaner, run the hot water on them for a couple of minutes, wipe them off with a towel and *voila* - every nook and crevice was sparkling clean.
Deborah that is a great idea. This would work for even the smaller seats that sit on the chairs or large plastic toys. With so many people having hand held shower heads now this would be even easier.
Jill